March 21
Utilities Rush to Embrace AI, According to ICF Survey
Top consumer smart energy news hand-selected and brought to you by the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative.
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ICF released a report sharing findings from its latest survey of utility program leaders on the state of customer programs. The new survey reveals that utilities are racing to modernize customer programs to keep pace with load growth, aging infrastructure and emerging technologies. And they are working to strike the right balance between adaptability and reliability to safeguard long-term grid resilience.
Last week, the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) announced that U.S. load growth will grow by two percent annually every year until 2050. This annual growth is driven in part by the increased demand required to meet the rising number of AI and data centers around the country and challenged by potential cuts to initiatives like the Inflation Reduction Act.
As Illinois looks to prepare its electric grid for the future, a new voluntary program in the Chicago area promises to lower costs for both customers and the utility system as a whole. ComEd is finalizing plans to roll out time-of-use rates in 2026 following a four-year pilot program in which participants saved money and reduced peak demand between 6.5 and 9.7 percent each summer.
Utilities looking to encourage the adoption of heat pumps for home heating should consider rates specific to the new technology, particularly those in colder climates, ACEEE said in new research. “Heat pump-specific rate plans are best for incentivizing heat pump adoption, with winter discounts being a potentially important facet of those plans,” the report concluded.
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Industry News
It is easy to overlook the low-rise, cream-colored building on Chicago’s Motor Row, a historic district that was a hub for auto dealers in the early 1900s. Yet the newly purchased headquarters for Bronzeville Community Development Partnership at 2416 S. Michigan Ave. plays both a symbolic and substantive role in fulfilling the organization’s mission of promoting clean energy and community-driven development in this South Side neighborhood.
A new report from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) found that a record 50 GW of new solar capacity was added in 2024. This is also the largest single year of new capacity added to the grid by any energy technology in over two decades. Solar and storage accounted for 84 percent of all new electric generating capacity added to the grid last year, according to SEIA and Wood Mackenzie.
Arcadia and Perch Energy have announced a new venture combining both companies’ community solar businesses to create a new standalone company, which claims to be the largest pure-play community solar acquisition and management servicing platform in the U.S. The new company will operate as a dedicated venture focused on scaling community solar adoption with financial backing and a board composed of Arcadia and Perch investors.
The Trump administration insists that renewables are making energy more expensive and that more fossil-fueled power will reduce utility bills. But those claims are false – and if congressional Republicans succeed in repealing key tax credits supporting the growth of clean energy, Americans will suffer the consequences in higher electric bills. So finds a report released recently by think tank Energy Innovation.
